Cuba Politics News

Second round of US Cuba migration talks to be held in Havana in December

The United States and Cuba will hold a second round of talks on migration issues in Havana at a yet undetermined date, a State Department spokesman said Monday.

“We are currently exploring dates that would work for both delegations to discuss the migration accords in Havana,” said Charles Luoma-Overstreet.

“This would be the second high-level meeting on migration issues during the Obama administration,” he added, referring to President Barack Obama’s stated intention of improving relations with Cuba’s communist regime.

An administration official, who asked to remain anonymous, said the second round of talks would take place next month.

The first round of migration talks held in July in New York City broke a six-year freeze in the negotiations, with both sides promising to strive toward a safe and orderly migration process between them.

Since taking office in January, Obama has taken small steps such as relaxing rules on visits and money transfers to the island.

But so far, the US administration has not taken major strides in its approach to the Americas’ last remaining communist regime and has vowed to keep its 47-year economic embargo of the island in place until Cuba shows some democratic improvements.

Besides migration issues, the two countries in September launched talks in Havana to restart the bilateral mail service which was cut off in 1963.

Luoma-Overstreet said some technical matters were awaiting resolution before a second round of mail service talks could be held.